Back in September, I made a little trek up to San Francisco for the NeonSpeaks events. I left a couple of days early so I could get some shooting in. This will be the last blog post for a bit since I’ve officially caught up to my camera and have everything up at my website. I’ll soon be digging in for the annual marathon of checking every map link at my website to see what’s changed (stuff that’s been demolished, removed, repainted, etc.). I’ll be posting here to this blog with some highlights. But brace yourself, it’s usually mostly bad news.

I guess you could call this a sign — okay, maybe artwork but I think it’s pretty neat. On the San Joaquin Tractor building in Bakersfield:

I think this place in San Francisco opened in the 1970s. This sign has been there since at least 2008. The fishing line dangles in the air. I assume it’s supposed to be attached to the pizza:

The paint on this bar sign in San Francisco is pretty shot — but it has character that way. The neon is lit at night:

Another cocktail sign. This motel in Porterville opened in 1956 and the sign is likely from then. The motel is now known as the Palm Tree Inn but, thankfully, this sign remains:

A nice oldie, likely from 1933 when the hotel was built, in Oakland with a beaded and detailed border and stuck-on letters:

This sign is in Sonoma. There was a nice 3-D bell hanging from the wood block on the right until around 2020:

The Astro Motel in Santa Rosa was built in 1963 as part of the chain:
https://www.roadarch.com/modarch/chain.html

Around 2017, it got a thorough retro makeover and is now known as The Astro. This sign was built then:

A close-up of the opal glass letters on the Hotel Oliver sign in Santa Rosa with ripple tin panels is from the 1920s:

Another one with peeling paint in Kerman:

This sign is in Watsonville. It’s mounted flush against the building now but it’s double-sided and must have projected from the building originally:

This one is in Walnut Grove:

The Ghiradelli Chocolate Factory in San Francisco recently replaced the original letters with new aluminum versions. They moved the original “G” inside the store but you can really only see about half of it:

Another one from San Francisco. This sign’s letters were replaced with backlit plastic versions in 2016 and it seemed that was the end of it. But the new owner removed them earlier this year and had the neon restored:

Moving on to some buildings. This former Richfield gas station is in Lemon Cove:

This beautiful glazed tile is at the El Rey Theatre in Salinas:

I don’t know if all of this is vitrolite or some of it might be glazed tile. At the former Sherman Cleaners in Oakland:

Inside the Funeraria Del Angel funeral home in Delano. Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright just before he died in 1959. The build completed by his son-in-law, William Wesley Peters:

The Pavilion of Flowers in Pacifica was built in 1966:

The York Towers condos in Oakland:

The All Saints Episcopal Church from 1968 in Palo Alto:

This lighthouse house (now the office for a condo complex) is in Vallejo:

These garlic geese are in Gilroy (the Garlic Capital of the World):

Andrea’s Fountain with bronze mermaids, a mer-baby, frogs, and turtles is in San Francisco:

The giant jeans in San Francisco need some paint but it’s unlikely since the jeans store on the second floor is long gone:

And lastly — this giant bellows camera is at the Big Fresno Fair:

Even though I’m done traveling for a while, the next big 5-weeker in June will be here before you know it. And I’ll have some little California trips now & then. I’ll start posting the “news” from the website map link prowl probably in a couple of weeks as I plod through it all.

Happy trails,
dj & the dogs